Chapter Eleven
Vera opened her eyes just so the incessant voice nagging her would shut up.
“Fuck off,” she said and settled deeper into her seat.
“God dammit, I said get up now!” Vera’s eyes popped open one by one at the urgency in her mate’s voice. She looked left and right but then the world spun hard. Her head felt like a small explosion had gone off in there and her face felt scratchy. She saw the white air bag exploded in front of her and sent a silent prayer up to heaven.
Suddenly she sat up in her seat, quickly removed the belt, and leaned over to Jacks who was grimacing as he tried to undo his seatbelt. Blood was on his forehead and his bottom lip.
“Baby, oh my God, what happened?” She crawled towards him and the car screeched and dropped another foot. Vera yelled and clung to her seat.
“It’s fine. Are you okay?”
“Mmhmm,” she said, nodding a little too fast.
“Listen, we’re at the bottom of the ditch. We can climb up no problem. And we won’t drop any further, what you just heard was the car settling in to the divot. Look at me baby, look at me, Vera.”
Vera’s panicked eyes swept to the rain pounding on the windows, then to their headlights shining off into the trees, and finally settled on his.
“I already tried to open the door and it won’t open. So I’m going to go out the window, and you’re going to follow me on my side, okay? I don’t want to take any chances of you slipping over there and the car moving on top of you.” He gave her a quick kiss then started to roll down the windows.
Vera said a silent thank you that the windows were manual. He turned back to her looking every bit in charge. Vera trusted him completely. He would get her out of here and everything would be okay. He rolled down the window, then anchored his hands on the edge.
Two hands latched on to Jacks’ shoulders and pulled him from the car like a sack of potatoes. Vera cried out and reached for him when suddenly her door was torn off the edges with a nasty metallic sound. She had only a moment to see the Ariss when she was grabbed and ripped out from the car.
Vera was flying through the air, and then landed hard on her stomach in the middle of the street. The front of her dress was soaked with dirty water and her knees and hands skidded hard on the black road.
Her beast rose to the surface and broke free. She hopped to her feet and scanned the area. Jacks was fighting Ariss’ guardian only twenty feet away. She started to run to him; he could never defeat a vampire, but Ariss appeared in front her. Ariss spun and landed a hard kick to Vera’s stomach, knocking the air out of her and sending her flying far down the street.
Vera landed and was already standing back on her feet when Ariss came flying at her again. Vera was quicker this time, her lykaen strength guiding her. She grabbed Ariss’ flying leg by the ankle, turned, and threw her down to the ground. Her face hit the ground with a hard crack, but just as quickly she was back on her feet. The side of her face wet and blooded.
Vera growled a feral deadly warning from a predator. Ariss hissed and moved in with a flurry of punches and elbows. Vera dodged and blocked them. She didn’t have anywhere near the speed that Ariss had but she did have strength and she used that to her advantage. She swiped Ariss’ fist away then slammed her own into Ariss’ face. She heard the crack of bones and felt a thrill rush through her.
She heard the grunts and pained sounds coming from Jacks and Ariss’ guardian but couldn’t afford to take her eyes off the Ariss.
“Why are you doing this?”
“Consider this a declaration of war from my Master. He’s going to get your land one way or another.”
Vera slammed into Ariss and took her hard to the ground, anything to keep her from using her speed. Her wet hair plastered to her cheeks and her bangs dipped low over her eyes blocking her vision. She was never going to wear bangs again, she vowed.
The power struggle shifted until they were both struggling to choke each other out. Vera gasped as her air was pinched from her throat by a hard, tight grip. Her vision was blacking out and she tightened her neck muscles and sucked in air through her nose. Ariss struggled beneath her, her eyes bulging, legs kicking as she kept her pinned to the wet ground.
She was stronger though and squeezed her hands tighter around Ariss’ throat. It wouldn’t kill her, but it would knock her out. Her arms shook, the muscles burned from her wrists to her biceps with the effort. Blood pooled in her hands making them feel like they were on fire.
Then finally Ariss’ legs stopped kicking. One by one, her hands dropped from her throat and slid boneless to the ground.
Vera stood and wobbled away from her, sucking in huge gasps of air. A bright light flooded the street and Vera turned towards it, palpable relief overwhelming her as a car came towards them, slowing down steadily.
Jacks.
Vera turned and all the blood left her face. Jacks was on the ground, and the guardian was drinking greedily from his neck. Vera launched herself at him, but he sped away too quickly for her to see. Vera cried out and knelt by Jacks, his eyes were closed, his face pale. She looked down the road and watched the Ariss' guardian pick her up and sprint into the woods.
She faintly heard the car pool up and someone rushed at her asking questions. She couldn’t make out what the man said though. She put her fingers against Jacks’ throat but her fingers kept slipping against his skin because of the rain and something red and thick.
The side of his throat was bloody and raw with pieces of skin torn up and chewed on. Vera swallowed back the bile that rose in her throat and put her head to his chest. Tears slid down her face alongside the rain. She choked back a sob when she heard the boom boom of his heart. Her hands curled into his shirt. His heart sounded so faint. Not like before. He was dying.
The thought sent her into a mode she’d never felt before. The human next to her was busy talking excitedly into his cell phone, waving his arm at their car in the ditch and Jacks.
Vera curled her arms under Jackson’s back and waist. A terrifying growl left her throat, and then she was lifting with all her strength as she stood.
She walked to the man’s car carrying her lumara in her arms. She didn’t feel his weight at all. Felt only a slight pressure in her arms. The wide-eyed human came and opened the back door and then she gently placed him inside.
She still couldn’t hear the words he was saying into the phone. She turned towards him and murmured a thank you, and then she got into the driver’s seat and gunned the engine.
The car whipped around in a tight U-turn, and then she was driving fast.
# # #
The drive back to the mansion took half as long to get there than it should have. Vera had no idea how fast she went and didn’t give a shit.
She slammed on the breaks as she pulled up to the mansion. She ran out of the car screaming at the top of her lungs.
“Dmetri! Dmetri, please!”
Her hands shook so bad it took her four tries to open the back door. She laid her hand over Jacks’ heart and felt the dull thud against her palm. It was so faint. Fainter than before. She didn’t have much time.
“Dmetri!” she screamed at the top of her lungs. The rain was pouring hard, drowning out the sound and she wanted to drop to her knees and cry. But something stopped her from doing so, recognized that every second was precious.
A whoosh of movement alerted her. She spun around expecting to find Ariss or her guardian, but it was Dmetri. He was wearing only a silk pair of pants and his hair was a mess like he’d been sleeping. Tears started again down her face and she started blubbering to him.